This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-196910, filed Jun. 29, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a specimen-inspection preprocessing apparatus for automatically preprocessing a specimen such as blood when a clinical test is conducted on the specimen.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to run a clinical test on a specimen such as blood, the specimen should be preprocessed. Conventionally, the preprocessing has been executed manually by operators. The preprocessing for specimens required in clinic tests is considerably complicated and various steps for the preprocessing have to be taken for a long time. For this reason, the operators are likely to be infected with pathogen during the preprocessing.
To automate a specimen-inspection preprocessing operation has conventionally been considered as a method of preventing the above infection. However, facilities to automate the preprocessing operation usually become considerably large. The costs of the apparatus increase and so do the costs of facilities because a large space is required for setting the apparatus. The above prior art specimen-inspection preprocessing apparatus cannot be put to practical use for clinic tests that require that the apparatus be decreased in size, cost, and facilities cost.
An object of the present invention is to provide a specimen-inspection preprocessing apparatus having the following advantages:
(a) A specimen-inspection preprocessing operation including a variety of complicated steps, in which an operator is very likely to be infected with pathogen, can be performed automatically.
(b) The apparatus can be formed compactly and manufactured at low costs. The setting space for the apparatus is small and the facilities costs thereof are low.
In order to attain the above object, the specimen-inspection preprocessing apparatus according to the present invention is configured as follows:
(1) A specimen-inspection preprocessing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention comprises a desk-type housing and a plurality of specimen processing units arranged on the desk-type housing, at least some of the plurality of specimen processing units each include a rotary conveying mechanism.
(2) In the apparatus described in above (1), the rotary conveying mechanism includes a turntable having a plurality of holding sections on a peripheral portion thereof, the holding sections holding a plurality of objects to be conveyed such as specimen containers, a driving motor for turning the turntable, a turning control device for controlling the driving motor to temporarily stop the turntable when the turntable turns a predetermined angle, and carry-in/carry-out means for carrying the objects into/out of the holding sections of the turntable temporarily stopping after the turntable turns the predetermined angle, in synchronization with a control operation of the turning control device.
(3) In the apparatus described in above (1), the plurality of specimen processing units include a master-specimen carry-in unit provided on a specimen operating surface of the desk-type housing, for carrying in a master specimen contained in a master-specimen container, a usable-region detection unit for detecting a usable region of the master specimen carried in by the master-specimen carry-in unit, a stopper-removing unit for removing a stopper of the master-specimen container containing the master specimen, a slave-specimen container supply unit for supplying an empty slave-specimen container, a label issuing unit for preparing an identification label and sticking the identification label to the slave-specimen container supplied from the slave-specimen container supply unit, a pipetting tip supply unit for supplying a disposable pipetting tip, a pipetting unit on which the pipetting tip supplied from the pipetting tip supply unit is mounted and which aliquots, through the pipetting tip, the master specimen from the master-specimen container from which the stopper is removed by the stopper-removing unit and then dispenses, through the pipetting tip, a slave specimen into the slave-specimen container to which the identification label is stuck, a slave-specimen carry-out unit for carrying out the slave specimen dispensed into the slave-specimen container by the pipetting unit, and a master-specimen container carry-out unit for carrying out the master-specimen container after the aliquot operation is performed.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.